The hijack kernel has no chance of "killing" your Empeg. As stated in the RioCar.org FAQ, the absolute WORST thing that could happen from a kernel installation is that you would need to re-apply an Empeg upgrade file. Because everything important (the boot loader) is in non-erasable memory, you simply cannot, no matter how hard you try :) make your Empeg unbootable.

So proceed with reckless abandon with your plans to load the kernel via Tony's Logo Editor. It should work just fine.